Research chimp may have easier retirement

The first time Camillo was the subject of a clinical experiment, he was a little more than 2 months old. Over the next 22 years, he underwent at least 163 medical procedures, including anesthesia, blood draws and biopsies. All were done in the name of scientific research.

Camillo, a chimpanzee who has been living at San Antonio's Texas Biomedical Research Institute for the past two years, has put in his time and should be allowed to live out his remaining years in the relative comfort of an animal sanctuary, said Dr. John J. Pippin, director of academic affairs for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The Washington, D.C., nonprofit promotes alternatives to animal research, among other causes.

Last week, Pippin sent a letter to National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis S. Collins, urging him to include Camillo and other federally owned chimpanzees housed at Texas Biomed among those who'll no longer be used to test new drugs and other medical procedures.

In January, the Council of Councils, an independent advisory group to the National Institutes of Health, voted unanimously to accept the recommendations of one of its working groups to “retire” most chimpanzees used in scientific research paid for by the federal government. The recommendations are now in the public comment phase and Collins is expected to rule on them in March.

But as part of the recommendations, the committee also suggested establishing a colony of approximately 50 chimps for use in potential future research. That's what PCRM is objecting to.

“They're hedging their bets that maybe something might happen that would require research on chimpanzees,” Pippin said. “But that's a lame reason.”

It's unknown whether Camillo would be among the chimps placed in the reserve colony.

A spokesman for Texas Biomed said the institute would not make anyone available for an interview, nor would they allow an Express-News photographer on site to photograph Camillo or any other chimpanzees. The spokesman, Joseph C. Carey, did note that the NIH, which owns Camillo, will have the final say in what happens to him.

Representatives from the NIH also would not comment on the letter.

Although the letter calls for all federally owned chimps to be retired, Pippin said his group decided to highlight Camillo's case because the chimp's experience as a research subject is “quite representative” of what other chimps are subjected to. Under the Freedom of Information Act, the organization obtained Camillo's complete medical research history. It tells quite a tale.

At just over 2 months of age, Camillo was entered into a hormone study that required numerous blood draws. At 2 years old he was, over a period of almost nine months, subjected to 34 blood draws and 11 biopsies. During a 1998 study of an experimental drug, he was given no food for 48 hours. Five days later he underwent more blood testing. Eight days after that he was given a vitamin and iron supplement to treat or prevent anemia, perhaps due to the numerous blood draws.

After reviewing these records for PCRM, veterinarian Henry Melvyn Richardson of Paradise, Calif., wrote, in part, “It is clear to me that Camillo has endured much pain and suffering in his life as a research chimpanzee. ... He has given enough and deserves to be retired from research to live the remainder of his life in habitat and social settings appropriate for his species.”